


Radiance

by jasiel



Category: Fairy Tail
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Human!Loke, Leo!Lucy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:33:41
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,540
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21973636
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jasiel/pseuds/jasiel
Summary: "I'm no Celestial Mage, Natsu."Except maybe he is. Loke is awarded a key after completing a request, and it forever changes his life.
Relationships: Lucy Heartfilia/Loke
Comments: 7
Kudos: 80





	Radiance

**Author's Note:**

> I know I'm incredibly late to the fandom but I thought of this while watching Fairy Tail for the first time and decided to try writing it. Not Beta-ed.

Surrounded by cheers of consolation and a few coy jeers from the crowd around them, another wizard flops into a chair, slumping over as they let out a sigh of exhaustion. This must be at least the twelfth attempt someone’s made against the magic, only to again be defeated by the item they gently place back on to the bar counter. 

“I’m not what it wants apparently.” 

While he didn’t look at the failed mage who’s being comforted by Mira now, Loke considered those words. His eyes locked on to the small item, a strange feeling of familiarity urging him to snatch up the key. 

Was it that the spirit didn’t want to come forth to the mages who tried to summon it so far? Does it have a choice in the matter? While he’s sure plenty of celestial mages would have answers to his questions, Fairy Tale was without one and so the key held nothing but mystery. 

Practically throwing himself out of his chair, Natsu leaped up and snatched the key up from the counter, examining it closely for a moment. 

“You better not be thinking about melting it.” 

Like hadn’t meant to snarl so fiercely at the dragon slayer, but it slipped out before he could help it. Luckily Natsu didn’t seem to care about his comrade’s tone, instead dangling it in front of Loke, just out of his reach. 

“Why don’t you try it? They gave it to you anyway. It should be yours.” 

With a grimace, Loke shook his head despite reaching out and taking the key in his hand. He rolled it gently between his fingers, once again transfixed by the golden key, molded into the head of a lion with a small red mark within it. 

Leo’s Zodiac key was given to Loke by the client of a rather quick and easy mission. Apparently the man was so desperate to have back some stolen package that he even gave Loke this priceless object as a sign of gratitude. 

He’d accepted it without thinking, a strange allure entrancing him and dragging him in before he could turn it down. 

“I’m no celestial mage, Natsu. I wouldn’t know where to begin with it.” He said, quietly tucking the key into his pocket and striding towards the door. “They clearly didn’t know, I doubt he’d have given it to me at all if he knew it’s practically useless in my hands.” 

Natsu opened his mouth as though to protest, but Loke wasn’t much in the mood for arguing with the overgrown lizard. 

“I’m heading home for today. Anyone who wants to try tomorrow can, but I need to sleep after that job.”

“Eh? I thought you said it wasn’t hard!” Jeered another mage, sneering up at him. 

“It wasn’t but dealing with the client was.”

With this, the guild waved their goodbyes, many of the item mages worn out from attempting to summon the celestial spirit Leo. 

As he trudged home the considered the key in his hand.

It wasn’t so much that he didn’t want the key. Should he be successful in opening the gate and calling forth Leo, it would be an incredible asset to have. With conflict with Phantom growing, anything in Fairy Tail’s favour would be welcome and most certainly helpful in the long run. 

No… the reason for his reluctance went a bit deeper than that. It had been years since he last met a celestial mage, a woman named Karen who held a few keys, the most memorable being Aries. 

Karen’s violence and abuse towards her spirits was something he never expected to see, though he was stopped from acting by her guild members as well as his own when he watched her assault the cowering ram, crying and apologizing over and over for a mistake that wasn’t hers to begin with. 

It wasn’t long after that meeting that rumours spread of Karen’s death, apparently at the hands of another spirit who refused to take the abuse any longer and allowed their mistress to die in order to force their contracts to break. 

He doesn’t know this spirit, but he can’t help but be proud of it. Death isn’t always the answer, and it was sad to see a mage die so terribly, but if anyone had this justice coming it was Karen. 

It was then that the reminder sank into Loke. 

They’re living beings. They’re individuals as varied and full of life as he is, and his comrades. Not tools to use when convenient or punching bags for when things didn’t turn out as you wish they did. 

Not that he necessarily needed the reminder. 

Picturing the crying ram, flinching away from her mistress, he remembered just how much he snarled at Karen, how he tried to defend the spirit and how he felt this exact way then. 

It was just that the weight of ensuring this would be respected was now in his hand, a golden key that suddenly felt like a ton of bricks in his hand. 

Loke struggles to resist the sudden urge to fling the key away from him, something about the damn thing sending a shudder of fear through his system. 

He’d heard that Karen wasn’t always so abusive towards others. She wasn’t a good person by any means but she used to be someone who wouldn’t raise a hand to those around her. 

Loke didn’t want the Key to change him. 

Instead of throwing it into the river he was passing, he clutched it tightly, fist red with whitening knuckles as he ground his teeth together. This was a lot more stress than he wanted. Maybe he could just sell it? 

Karen flashed through his mind again, and he quickly shook the idea off. 

Not unless he knows the mage wouldn’t hurt the spirit in his key. Though Celestial Mages are few and far between, so finding one suitable could take a long time. 

Looks like Leo is staying with him for now. 

Hopefully it’s okay with that. 

Pulling the key from his pocket, he raised it up to his face, eyeing the symbol on the key for a moment. 

“I’ll find someone worthy of you, so for now please hang tight.” He whispered to the key, the gold brushing his lips surprisingly cold despite how much he’s been clinging to it. 

It didn’t take long to get to his home, and the moment he walked through the door he was stripping off his jacket and shirt and throwing himself to the small bed in his bedroom, face pushed into the pillows. 

After a moment, his hand grew faintly warm, just enough to demand his attention, and when he looked down Loke noticed he still held the Leo key clutched in his grip. 

Rolling over and facing the ceiling, Loke held the key above him, looking it over. 

“How do these things even work, anyway?” 

Silent, Loke shuffled through his memories, remembering how not only his guild members tried to summon Leo, but a celestial mage he met ages back. From Sabertooth, he didn’t really commit her image to memory, but now struggled to remember her words when he watched her fight. 

“I am connected to the Celestial world,” he mumbled, the words slow and uncertain. 

Feeling magic pulse, though he couldn’t tell where it came from, he felt compelled to continue. 

“Open, gate of the Lion.”

Despite feeling magic burning his hand, and seeing the Key grow alight, nothing happened. For a long moment he watched the Key, intrigued to see it responding for the first time since he got it, but after a few minutes passed he sighed.

“Guess not, huh?”

Eyes drifting shut, Loke began to allow sleep to slowly take him, just a lingering sensation creeping over his mind, though before it could claim him, he winced. 

Suddenly bright light was streaming into his room, blinding him even behind closed eyes. 

Grimacing, Loke raised his hands, trying to block his eyes and turn away from the source of light, which oddly enough wasn’t in the same direction as his window. 

“What kind of summoning was that? No energy or passion at all!” Said an annoyed voice suddenly, soft as a bell. A trill went up Loke’s spine, something flooding his veins as he felt a presence like none he’s known before. “You were so quiet I almost didn’t hear you, Master.”

Slowly opening his eyes, Loke had to squint against the blazing light, a glowing figure at the heart of the radiance, haloed rather than silhouetted. 

Smiling down at him is a woman he can only describe as radiant- it’s too on the nose considering the warm light she’s literally emitting, but no other word suits her. 

Her soft smile grows into something slightly arrogant under his awed gaze, she lowers her brown eyes into a beautiful smolder. Moving carefully, she gathers her ruffled skirts and hikes it up slightly, allowing her to bend without damaging her dress and meet his gaze straight on. His eyes forcibly drag from her generous curves, lingering on the leo symbol tattooed onto her chest, up to her hooded eyes. 

“Master, I’m very confident in my feminine side, but even I get embarrassed.”


End file.
